Summer graced west London yesterday with blue skies, warm air and the spectacle of British tennis players attempting to compete at a level that is far out of reach during the rest of the year. The 21-year-old James Ward did a pretty good job of it, too, pushing a two-time grand slam champion Marat Safin hard before succumbing 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the Artois Championships.

Given Andy Murray's remarks in his recent autobiography about what he views as the complacency and laziness of some British players, it was heartening to hear Ward sound as frustrated and disappointed as he did about losing to a player of Safin's pedigree. There were none of the usual "plucky Brit" platitudes from the Londoner, who has spent the last four years training at the Spanish academy owned by the former world No1 Juan Carlos Ferrero. Instead of congratulating himself for his efforts in coming through the qualifying rounds - a sizeable achievement in itself for a player ranked 495 in the world - and then losing narrowly to Safin, Ward was critical of the second-set slump he suffered against the Russian and the chances he missed to redeem himself in the decider.

"I'd be wrong to say I'm expecting to beat him on a regular basis," said Ward. "But I'm at home, home crowd, just played three good matches, I've passed the quallies, he hasn't played on the grass yet. Who knows what can happen? So I was disappointed in the end to lose. I know I can play at that level. I've been practising with Juan Carlos Ferrero the last four years. He's been a grand slam champion as well, so I know what it's all about."

Ward tried his best not to be overly critical of the Lawn Tennis Association, which supports him to a limited but very necessary extent, but, like Murray, he is clearly too forthright a character to toe anybody's party line. Having moved back from Spain, he now divides his time between the French Connection academy in north London run by Jo Durie's former coach Alan Jones and the LTA's National Tennis Centre at Roehampton, where he has found the principles of hard work and discipline that had been drilled into him in Spain to be lacking.

His words were an echo of Murray's, who chose to train at the Sánchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona between the ages of 15 and 17 because he wanted to break out of the cosy, cosseted world that many British players enjoy.

"A lot of people don't know what it takes to actually get to the top," said Ward. "I mean, I'm in the game to get to the top. I'm not in there to be around 250, just taking freebies off the LTA. I'm not in it for that. That's why I had my decision to move to Spain. Now I've come back, so... I don't really want to say too much."

Ward is now hoping that he has done enough at Queen's to attract the attention of the All England Club, which is due to announce some of the recipients for Wimbledon wild cards today. In an effort to raise standards and motivate its players, the LTA has said that it will recommend that only Britons ranked 250 or better should be given wild cards for the championships, which start on June 23. Ward, typically, has taken matters into his own hands by writing to the club and putting forward a case that was undoubtedly strengthened by yesterday's performances on and off the court.

Murray will make his 2008 grasscourt debut this afternoon at Queen's, when he takes on either the Frenchman Sébastien Grosjean or the South African Rik de Voest in the second round. Murray, seeded sixth in the event, has played just one competitive match on grass in the last two years after missing last year's Wimbledon with a wrist injury.